Title: A Doll's House Author: Henrik Ibsen Date of Publication: 1879 Literary Period: Modern Realism Genre: Drama Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting.
Norway, which is an uncommon setting; late 1800's; Christmas time (giving and understanding)
The significance of the play taking place in Norway is that the playwright had ideals that differed heavily from the norms of the time, the 1800's, but especially with his audience in Germany. Theaters in Germany would later drive him to change the ending, which changed the entire meaning of the play. Understanding at Christmas time is significant because Nora realizes that she is not understood by her husband. Christmas time also means that the new year is arriving, and Nora mistakenly believes that she will be able to start anew once she pays off her debt.
Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Men in Ibsen's A Dollhouse are just as stuck in societal roles as are women, for just as women are expected to be submissive and are often objectified, men are expected to be the heroes who rescue the women, just as Nora expects Torvald to take the blame for her forgery.
Nora is obsessed with maintaining her reputation as a notable woman in the community, yet this obsession ruins her as she goes to the lengths of and illegal act of forgery to save her reputation and keep her husband.
The home is usually a place of shelter and comfort, but in A Dollhouse, the home is a symbol of false comfort as Nora puts on a facade to cover her illegal acts and immoral views on the lengths she is willing to go to to maintain her reputation.
Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. (Beginning, Middle, End)
The play has a classic three act structure.
The first act establishes Nora's friendship to Christine Linde from childhood. She is mostly subservient to Torvald in the marriage, but she is keeping a secret about how she forged her father's name after he died to get a loan so that she could take her family on vacation to Italy in order to restore Torvald's health. She is therefore subject to blackmail by Krogstad.
The second act exposes Nora's relationship with Dr. Rank, which is a sort of Platonic friendzone. She tries to convince Helmer to not fire Krogstad, but he does so anyway in defiance of listening to his wife. Dr. Rank admits to Nora that he is dying of congenital syphilis, and he tells her not to let Torvald visit him in his last days. He suggests that he considers suicide. Krogstad threatens Nora further, and Christine realizes that Nora borrowed from Krogstad and not Dr. Rank. She dances the Tarantella in a very odd way to distract Torvald from anything else.
In the final act, Christine allows Nora to take responsibility for her choices. The letter from Krogstad is read, and Torvald reacts very differently from how Nora expected him to. He is not proud of Nora's problem management, and she is upset by his reaction. She realizes how she is being treated as subhuman, and she argues with him, finally leaving, slamming the door behind her.
Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen. - Nora has yet to realize how her relationship to Torvald really is, so she anticipates that he will react to her secret with pride. The pride is the wonderful thing that Nora awaits, but the truly wonderful thing that happens to Nora is that she awakens from being a doll.
From now on, forget happiness. Now it’s just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance. - Torvald reveals that he does not think of Nora as a human being more directly than ever before. He simply likes her for her beauty, and when he finds out that she could compromise their appearance to others, he simply wants to salvage that, not caring at all about how she feels.
I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It’s because of you I’ve made nothing of my life. - Nora has an existential crisis as she realizes how she has been a mere doll pushed around by the patriarchs in her life.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
Torvald calls Nora squirrel, skylark, and singing-bird, along with other nicknames, and scolds her for her extravagance, but she goes along with it and pretends to be ignorant of the flow of money despite her secret loan. The opening scene shows how the relationship between Nora and Torvald seems happy, but the happiness is an act in which neither spouse really understands the other.
Describe the significance of the closing scene.
The significance of the closing scene is the playwright's morality, which differs from the more common notion that there is a moral obligation to raise one's children oneself. The door slamming shut exemplifies the shock of Nora asserting her independence as she leaves her marriage and family behind. The alternative ending does not question the moral compass of the masses, and is Ibsen conceding to what his audience would want the ending to be.
Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
Ibsen, father of realism, talks about middle and lower class people. He uses dialogue between characters that sounds like a real conversation.
"Nora: And if I asked you now for a--? No!
Rank: For what?
Nora: For a big proof of your friendship--
Rank: Yes, yes!
Nora: I mean a tremendously big favour--"
List importance characters and their significance.
Torvald Helmer - Nora's husband who treats Nora as relatively ignorant represents patriarchal society by thinking of his wife as nothing but a doll who should look pretty and entertain others.
Nora Helmer - protagonist who hides loan and signature forgery from her husband thinks that he would be impressed and thankful if he were to find out. When he finally does, however, he is furious, which leads her to the realization of her own place in their relationship.
Christine Linde - childhood friend who is getting Krogstad's job, who sees Nora's situation as so corrupt that instead of helping her remedy the situation, she would rather let her friend take responsibility for her actions.
Krogstad - morally corrupt, destroyed his family due to his signature forgery, which is also why he is being fired. He has actually done about the same thing that Nora has, however.
Dr. Rank - declares his impending death to Nora, but wants to hide it from Torvald, because he knows that his friend would be displeased by Dr. Rank's illness despite Dr. Rank being innocent in contracting it. He reinforces the idea that illness can be passed along by parents, both in reality and metaphorically.
List important symbols from the work and their significance
Christmas tree - symbolizes family unity, but the family's relationships actually end up falling apart during the holidays. The catalyst is the secret that leads Nora to pretend that the cat destroyed the Christmas tree ornaments.
Macaroons - the treat shows that Nora disobeys Torvald sometimes in secret, displaying her rebellious side, which sets up her rebellion in keeping a secret and later leaving the family to find her individual identity.
Skylark, squirrel, songbird - The woodland creatures that Torvald calls Nora instead of using her name show how he treats her as subhuman. The animals are all cute or beautiful, which shows that he simply wants Nora to look nice.
Tarantella - The frantic dance lets Nora express her excitement and anticipation. It lets her circumvent her usual appearance of being perfectly mild-mannered just like Torvald wants.
Letter - symbolizes an inescapable truth that the couple must face, and it rests outside of Nora's control in Torvald's letter box. Torvald ironically has the power to control whether the letter is read or not, while also being the only one who does not know its contents.
Author: Henrik Ibsen
Date of Publication: 1879
Literary Period: Modern Realism
Genre: Drama
Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting.
Norway, which is an uncommon setting; late 1800's; Christmas time (giving and understanding)
The significance of the play taking place in Norway is that the playwright had ideals that differed heavily from the norms of the time, the 1800's, but especially with his audience in Germany. Theaters in Germany would later drive him to change the ending, which changed the entire meaning of the play. Understanding at Christmas time is significant because Nora realizes that she is not understood by her husband. Christmas time also means that the new year is arriving, and Nora mistakenly believes that she will be able to start anew once she pays off her debt.
Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Men in Ibsen's A Dollhouse are just as stuck in societal roles as are women, for just as women are expected to be submissive and are often objectified, men are expected to be the heroes who rescue the women, just as Nora expects Torvald to take the blame for her forgery.
Nora is obsessed with maintaining her reputation as a notable woman in the community, yet this obsession ruins her as she goes to the lengths of and illegal act of forgery to save her reputation and keep her husband.
The home is usually a place of shelter and comfort, but in A Dollhouse, the home is a symbol of false comfort as Nora puts on a facade to cover her illegal acts and immoral views on the lengths she is willing to go to to maintain her reputation.
Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. (Beginning, Middle, End)
The play has a classic three act structure.
The first act establishes Nora's friendship to Christine Linde from childhood. She is mostly subservient to Torvald in the marriage, but she is keeping a secret about how she forged her father's name after he died to get a loan so that she could take her family on vacation to Italy in order to restore Torvald's health. She is therefore subject to blackmail by Krogstad.
The second act exposes Nora's relationship with Dr. Rank, which is a sort of Platonic friendzone. She tries to convince Helmer to not fire Krogstad, but he does so anyway in defiance of listening to his wife. Dr. Rank admits to Nora that he is dying of congenital syphilis, and he tells her not to let Torvald visit him in his last days. He suggests that he considers suicide. Krogstad threatens Nora further, and Christine realizes that Nora borrowed from Krogstad and not Dr. Rank. She dances the Tarantella in a very odd way to distract Torvald from anything else.
In the final act, Christine allows Nora to take responsibility for her choices. The letter from Krogstad is read, and Torvald reacts very differently from how Nora expected him to. He is not proud of Nora's problem management, and she is upset by his reaction. She realizes how she is being treated as subhuman, and she argues with him, finally leaving, slamming the door behind her.
Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen. - Nora has yet to realize how her relationship to Torvald really is, so she anticipates that he will react to her secret with pride. The pride is the wonderful thing that Nora awaits, but the truly wonderful thing that happens to Nora is that she awakens from being a doll.
From now on, forget happiness. Now it’s just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance. - Torvald reveals that he does not think of Nora as a human being more directly than ever before. He simply likes her for her beauty, and when he finds out that she could compromise their appearance to others, he simply wants to salvage that, not caring at all about how she feels.
I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It’s because of you I’ve made nothing of my life. - Nora has an existential crisis as she realizes how she has been a mere doll pushed around by the patriarchs in her life.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
Torvald calls Nora squirrel, skylark, and singing-bird, along with other nicknames, and scolds her for her extravagance, but she goes along with it and pretends to be ignorant of the flow of money despite her secret loan. The opening scene shows how the relationship between Nora and Torvald seems happy, but the happiness is an act in which neither spouse really understands the other.
Describe the significance of the closing scene.
The significance of the closing scene is the playwright's morality, which differs from the more common notion that there is a moral obligation to raise one's children oneself. The door slamming shut exemplifies the shock of Nora asserting her independence as she leaves her marriage and family behind. The alternative ending does not question the moral compass of the masses, and is Ibsen conceding to what his audience would want the ending to be.
Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
Ibsen, father of realism, talks about middle and lower class people. He uses dialogue between characters that sounds like a real conversation.
"Nora: And if I asked you now for a--? No!
Rank: For what?
Nora: For a big proof of your friendship--
Rank: Yes, yes!
Nora: I mean a tremendously big favour--"
List importance characters and their significance.
Torvald Helmer - Nora's husband who treats Nora as relatively ignorant represents patriarchal society by thinking of his wife as nothing but a doll who should look pretty and entertain others.
Nora Helmer - protagonist who hides loan and signature forgery from her husband thinks that he would be impressed and thankful if he were to find out. When he finally does, however, he is furious, which leads her to the realization of her own place in their relationship.
Christine Linde - childhood friend who is getting Krogstad's job, who sees Nora's situation as so corrupt that instead of helping her remedy the situation, she would rather let her friend take responsibility for her actions.
Krogstad - morally corrupt, destroyed his family due to his signature forgery, which is also why he is being fired. He has actually done about the same thing that Nora has, however.
Dr. Rank - declares his impending death to Nora, but wants to hide it from Torvald, because he knows that his friend would be displeased by Dr. Rank's illness despite Dr. Rank being innocent in contracting it. He reinforces the idea that illness can be passed along by parents, both in reality and metaphorically.
List important symbols from the work and their significance
Christmas tree - symbolizes family unity, but the family's relationships actually end up falling apart during the holidays. The catalyst is the secret that leads Nora to pretend that the cat destroyed the Christmas tree ornaments.
Macaroons - the treat shows that Nora disobeys Torvald sometimes in secret, displaying her rebellious side, which sets up her rebellion in keeping a secret and later leaving the family to find her individual identity.
Skylark, squirrel, songbird - The woodland creatures that Torvald calls Nora instead of using her name show how he treats her as subhuman. The animals are all cute or beautiful, which shows that he simply wants Nora to look nice.
Tarantella - The frantic dance lets Nora express her excitement and anticipation. It lets her circumvent her usual appearance of being perfectly mild-mannered just like Torvald wants.
Letter - symbolizes an inescapable truth that the couple must face, and it rests outside of Nora's control in Torvald's letter box. Torvald ironically has the power to control whether the letter is read or not, while also being the only one who does not know its contents.